Note: some of this stuff is obvious, but you never know who’s reading this and what their exposure is to any given reference. If there’s stuff I missed or got wrong, let me know in comments, or email linton.joe [at] gmail.com

SPOILERS

General: Future Taylor and her ‘slim crew battle “rejex” humans and Crossed “dogs” in the Appalachian Mountains. On their return to Murfreesboro, humans inadvertently shoot and kill Bukrah.

Cover

The cover scene does not quite match a scene in the issue. It appears to the be the group of “rejex” humans (introduced last issue), surrounded by Crossed.

Page 1

panel 1

The date is August 8, 2109. The location is the Appalachian Mountains.

The central masked rider is Bukrah.

The issue’s title “And Men” comes from Olaf Stapledon 1930 sci-fi novel Last and First Men, from which the title of CPOH9 (‘Last First’) and the CPOH10 (‘And Men’) are derived.

The mixed-case captions are Future Taylor’s journal.

“Cautious’s moms… Makewell Lee, Miracle Kenco, little Sanders Armstrong” and “Oldwoman George” are all residents of Chooga, the human settlement at Chattanooga, TN, featured prominently in CPOH1-6. Cautious’ mother and Oldwoman George were introduced in CPOH3. The others were not mentioned before.

Page 2

panel 1

The central human rider is Cautious Optimism Kriswyczki.

Panelwise, this is the first instance of one-third-page panels bleeding off the right and left.

panel 2

Left to right, riders are Mustaqba, Oneway McBlarney, Bukrah, Kriswyczki, and Future Taylor.

panel 3 (through following page)

Taylor’s references to various ages of humans seems similar to human species described in the titular novel Last and First Men.

Page 3

panel 2-3

Though they’re missing the cross-brand on their forehead from the prior issue, these humans are the band of “rejex.” They all carry the same pouches on their chests.

“Buddabing!” (also spelled “Baddabing” [see CPOH8 P10,p1] or badda bing) is a catchphrase from the movie The Godfather also featured in the TV series The Sopranos. It means more-or-less “there it is” or “taken care of.”

Page 12-14 – no specific annotations

Page 15

panel 2

“Allah’s wheel” is not clear. Commenters suggest it could be “Allah’s will” or “all’s well.”

Page 16

panel 1

“Olaf Staple the Don” is science fiction writer Olaf Stapledon, who wrote the 1930 novel Last and First Men, from which the title of CPOH9 (‘Last First’) and the CPOH10 (‘And Men’) are derived.

Clearly, the crucial bits of this issue are the statements by the ‘reject’. Spurrier is fond of using phonetic spellings to obscure or mislead (“harve esther cum bun”, for example, from his Crossed Annual, a few years back). I am still stumped on “grikaye land”. I wonder if ‘grinbuyer’ could be a term for making alliances (read as “purchasing smiles / good will”).

(this is actually CPOH9) “No peoples, just populations” seems to indicate Fajr is talking impersonally. “Bedient blanks” seems to mean that the population is obedient to Fajr’s impersonal plans (the people are compared to the blank spaces on a chess board).